No matter how you feel today, there was almost certainly a time when you were engaged and excited about your job. It may have lasted for years, or not even made it through the first week. But if you find yourself bored and disengaged on the job now, there might be a reason that has nothing to do with the job itself.
(more…)
Archive for the ‘Employee Engagement’ Category
Unbore Yourself and Get Out of Your Rut
Wednesday, January 11th, 2012The Quietly Happy Workplace
Thursday, May 5th, 2011There’s a common misconception that the process of motivating employees has to include a lot of waved pompoms, ringing bells, and people popping up like toast over their cubicle walls with a spontaneous WOOHOO!
(more…)
All In: Build a Shared Vision that Motivates and Inspires
Thursday, January 13th, 2011So you’ve recognized the symptoms of a dysfunctional workplace—dishonesty, lip service, defensiveness, deflecting blame, conflict avoidance, gossip—and diagnosed the disease. You’ve confronted the problem head-on. Good work.
Now it’s time for the cure.
(more…)
“Where Did My Idea Go?”: Employee Engagement Starts with Being Heard
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010You’re a motivated employee, a real go-getter, deeply engaged in your company and committed to its success. That’s why you take the time and effort to think of ways to improve procedures and policies.
(more…)
Work Incentives that WORK
Thursday, November 25th, 2010It’s true: money is a useful motivator. But according to a classic study at Ohio State University, it’s not the only motivator that increases employee engagement and productivity. Turns out it’s not even the most effective one.
(more…)
Having a Hoot is a Bottom Line Issue
Thursday, November 11th, 2010As our economic mess heads into its third year, business has never been more serious. It might seem an odd time to make a case for levity in the workplace. But The Levity Effect authors Scott Christopher and Adrian Gostick are doing exactly that.
(more…)
Ring the Bell or Forget It!
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
© Milous Chab | Dreamstime.com
Change CAN happen if only some of your staff are on board. Engines can also run on three cylinders. But the result is nothing to crow about.
In order for an organization to have a huge and profound transformation, EVERY manager must vote in with their full heart—must pick up that hammer and ring the bell, every time.
There are reasons people head into a new initiative halfheartedly. So you have to ask for extreme honesty—ask each member of your team to go far beyond lip service as they answer this question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to a breakthrough?
Most people will give an answer somewhere between 7 (“pretty committed”) and 10 (“committed out of my friggin’ mind”). A seven from any member of your team might just as well be a three for all the good it will do you. Anything less than 10 gives that person a place to hide, an escape clause, a reason to fail. “I wasn’t that committed anyway,” goes the tune.
And it just won’t do.
If anyone gives an answer other than 10, congratulate their honesty, then find out why. Some people will say, “I don’t have enough time,” or “Well, I don’t know. Explain breakthrough,” or “I’m a practical person. I can’t commit until I know EXACTLY what I’m committing to.” For each answer below a 10, you need to help them understand why their answer will end up hurting the rest of the management team because they must be a unified voice for a major breakthrough to happen.
Make it clear that the breakthrough you seek is not an extra credit assignment, above and beyond the job. It IS the job. “I don’t have time for the breakthrough” means “I don’t have time for my job.”
Watch out as well for those who say “10″ but mean something else. I remember seeing this played out hilariously once in a leadership meeting. The CEO had zeroed in on one poor schlub named Roger. When asked what he would be on the scale, Roger had mumbled, “Well, I suppose I’d have to be a 10.”
The entire boardroom burst out laughing. It was the least 10-ish tone of voice anyone had ever heard.
“That doesn’t sound like a 10 to me,” said the boss. “Let’s try that again.”
“Okay,” said Roger. “I guess the only right answer is 10.”
Again the room went to pieces with laughter. Even Roger smiled. He explained that he wasn’t really sure what the transformation was all about.
After every other member of the team had chimed in with enthusiastic explanations of what the transformation was about and how much they believed in Roger’s ability to rise to the challenge, he was asked again. And this time, he answered with conviction: “I’m a ten!”
Once everyone is fully on board at the highest level, willing to go the distance AND to hold each other accountable, there will be nothing in Heaven or Earth to stop you from achieving the profound and lasting transformation you need and deserve.
Employee Engagement
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
True employee engagement occurs when individuals apply the full measure of their creative energy and talent to performing work that wholly supports achievement of the organization’s goals. And while perfect engagement is not achievable, our experience and the Gallup Organization’s research reveal that a clear, forward-looking strategy aligned with the organization’s vision, values, and mission goals and translatable to the day-to-day activities of all organization members combined with inspiring leadership is absolutely essential to maximizing employee engagement.
Check out the resources and articles around Employee Engagement on the Strategy Driven website at their Employee Engagement Center of Excellence. There are some written by yours truly, but many articles by other experts as well!
Let’s Get It Started!
Friday, August 20th, 2010
© Gino Santa Maria | Dreamstime.com
There’s a song I love to play over the loudspeakers at my public events. The song is “Let’s Get it Started” by the Black-Eyed Peas, and we use it to call everybody back from break, to pump them up and get them ready to GET IT STARTED again!
We could use just about any high-energy song to get people’s attention, but this one has something special, and its right there in the title––Let’s get it started. It doesn’t say, “Let’s hope somebody else gets it started.” It’s about US, you and me, getting started and making things happen.
Maybe you’re playing a waiting game in your company, waiting for management to get the memo and start making a positive culture change happen. You’ve filled out enough suggestion cards to fill the old card catalog at the New York Public Library. Maybe you’ve even dropped a few heavy hints in person. Nothing. Ever. Happens.
Time to stop waiting. It’s time to get it started.
Culture change is first and foremost about a change in attitudes. It’s about making people feel appreciated, giving them a common goal, and helping them to have fun in the process. NONE of these requires a lot of money or time, and best of all, NONE requires the involvement of the head honchos.
Still, you don’t have to do this all alone. Certainly there are two or three other people who would like to see your workplace transformed. Put together an informal group––a “coalition of the willing”––and brainstorm ways to turn the place around. There is nothing more fun than taking the bull by the horns and watching as you turn around not just a workplace, but the lives of the people who spend half of their waking hours IN that workplace.
Here are three ways to get it started:
1. Create your own contest. If you know your company has an objective to sell 750 widgets a month, create a contest. Split your staff into teams. Have them report daily and put points for sales up on a white board. Hoot and holler, give out prizes for individuals and teams. Prizes don’t have to be expensive—people will knock themselves out for a chocolate kiss.
2. Start a low-key campaign against dysfunctional behaviors. Quietly enlist as many co-workers as possible in a pact to not engage in gossip, backstabbing, whining, or nay-saying, and to gently call others on it when they hear it in action.
3. Connect. It’s easy to crawl into our shells, keep our eyes on the floor, and forget that we’re surrounded by actual no-kidding people all day. Make an effort to meet the eyes of your co-workers. Smile and say hello. Ask about the family. This isn’t rocket science––but these simple connections can do more for transforming a workplace culture than the most elaborate system of incentives.
At the end of the first month, pull the team together to take a reading. Odds are very good that you’ll see evidence everywhere that things will never be the same.
Acres of Diamonds: Show Me the Money!
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
© Virusowy | Dreamstime.com
Last year I finally read Acres of Diamonds. It’s a century old, yet its truths are timeless.
This pastor, lawyer, speaker, politician, and university president – who collected $11 million from his speech by the same title and donated it to students – spoke of the riches that are available to all of us and how we search for them in all the wrong places. The acres of diamonds, you see, are in our own backyard.
He tells of struggling merchants who know nothing about the people living near their businesses, nothing about their families or their kids, their joys or sorrows or aspirations. They just plain don’t care about people – and THAT’s why they’re poor. They don’t see opportunities because they don’t know that people will show you how to help them—IF you just listen.
A metaphor for business? My thoughts exactly.
Here’s a thought. What would happen if you eliminated all the drama from your sales team? Work would no longer look like an adult day care because people would be accountable for their own problems and solutions.
What if instead of having to manage people, a sales manager could focus on improving sales? No managing the frail egos of people who complain about minutiae; every sales person 100 percent accountable for his or her results; no dealing with “hurt feelings” – because you’re dealing with grownups who know that their feelings are their choice. Just imagine it.
Stay with me here. In this little dream, the sales manager would spend:
• a third of his or her time generating leads for the sales team;
• a third making the sales operation optimally effective;
• a third coaching the players on positioning, strategies, techniques, and sales skills.
How would that change things?
Are you ready for the change? It’s not that hard. Simply make sure that you instruct people to own their problems and find solutions fast. If anyone comes to you with a gripe or a whine, stick your fingers in our ears and shout, “I’m not listening, I’m not listening.” Tell them to come back to let you know what they did to create a quick solution.
Do this and sales will accelerate!